Opera is a glorious spectacle, a splendid but uneven fabric of music, drama, dance, poetry, and stage architecture, imperfect by nature yet endowed with magic. -Mary Jane Matz, Opera: Grand and Not So Grand Opera was originally a pure art, surviving on subsidies from royalty, nobility, and aristocracy. But with the opening of the first public opera house in Venice in 1637, opera has gradually become a marketable commodity, competing with popular entertainments. Today, this art form carries numerous stereotypes that mildly retard the spreading of its popularity. Younger generations often perceive oper